Road to Tokyo 2020: Language, Transportation Barriers Being Removed for Games

Tokyo, April 11 (Jiji Press)--The Olympic and Paralympic Games can offer good opportunities to come up with ideas for removing obstacles in daily life.

One legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Games was the pictograms devised to show people the locations of restrooms and other facilities without the need for verbal communication.

Toward the 2020 Games, barrier-free environments are being created in a number of ways.

In the city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, which will serve as the host town for the national squad of Lithuania, the local government used Pocketalk, a portable translation device from major software manufacturer Sourcenext Corp., for interactions with athletes and coaches at an exchange event in October 2018.

Lithuanian athletes had dubious looks when they were served a dish of octopus seasoned with vinegar, but they smiled after getting briefed on ingredients in their own language.